n. The act or state of being an accomplice. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Achromatism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. aduncitas. See Aduncous. ] Curvature inwards; hookedness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The aduncity of the beaks of hawks. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Allotropic property or nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being English. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. an inclination to evaluate reality exclusively in terms of human values.
Syn. -- anthropocentrism. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. The state or quality of being apostolical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Astucious. ] Craftiness; astuteness. [ R. ] Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. atomicité. ] (Chem.) Degree of atomic attraction; equivalence; valence; also (a later use) the number of atoms in an elementary molecule. See Valence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 lack of normal muscular tension or tonus.
Syn. -- atony. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Atrocities [ F. atrocité, L. atrocitas, fr. atrox, atrocis, cruel. ] 1. Enormous wickedness; extreme heinousness or cruelty. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An atrocious or extremely cruel deed. [ 1913 Webster ]

The atrocities which attend a victory. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Daring spirit, resolution, or confidence; venturesomeness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The freedom and audacity necessary in the commerce of men. Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Reckless daring; presumptuous impudence; -- implying a contempt of law or moral restraints. [ 1913 Webster ]

With the most arrogant audacity. Joye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. authenticité. ] 1. The quality of being authentic or of established authority for truth and correctness. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Genuineness; the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In later writers, especially those on the evidences of Christianity, authenticity is often restricted in its use to the first of the above meanings, and distinguished from qenuineness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) (a) The quality or state of being a base. (b) The power of an acid to unite with one or more atoms or equivalents of a base, as indicated by the number of replaceable hydrogen atoms contained in the acid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The practice or habit of drinking too much; tippling. Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. electric phenomena in animals or plants. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The state of being twice folded; reduplication. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. caducitas: cf. F. caducité. See Caducous. ] Tendency to fall; the feebleness of old age; senility. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ A ] jumble of youth and caducity. Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Physiol.) A faculty in animals of developing and preserving the heat necessary to life, that is, the animal heat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. canonicité. ] The state or quality of being canonical; agreement with the canon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Capacities [ L. capacitus, fr. capax, capacis; fr. F. capacité. See Capacious. ] 1. The power of receiving or containing; extent of room or space; passive power; -- used in reference to physical things. [ 1913 Webster ]

Had our great palace the capacity
To camp this host, we all would sup together. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The capacity of the exhausted cylinder. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The power of receiving and holding ideas, knowledge, etc.; the comprehensiveness of the mind; the receptive faculty; capability of understanding or feeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

Capacity is now properly limited to these [ the mere passive operations of the mind ]; its primary signification, which is literally room for, as well as its employment, favors this; although it can not be denied that there are examples of its usage in an active sense. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Ability; power pertaining to, or resulting from, the possession of strength, wealth, or talent; possibility of being or of doing. [ 1913 Webster ]

The capacity of blessing the people. Alex. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

A cause with such capacities endued. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Outward condition or circumstances; occupation; profession; character; position; as, to work in the capacity of a mason or a carpenter. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) Legal or moral qualification, as of age, residence, character, etc., necessary for certain purposes, as for holding office, for marrying, for making contracts, wills, etc.; legal power or right; competency. [ 1913 Webster ]

Capacity for heat, the power of absorbing heat. Substances differ in the amount of heat requisite to raise them a given number of thermometric degrees, and this difference is the measure of, or depends upon, what is called their capacity for heat. See Specific heat, under Heat.

Syn. -- Ability; faculty; talent; capability; skill; efficiency; cleverness. See Ability. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Greediness of appetite for flesh. [ Sportive. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state or quality of being catholic; universality. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Liberality of sentiments; catholicism. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Adherence or conformity to the system of doctrine held by all parts of the orthodox Christian church; the doctrine so held; orthodoxy. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Adherence to the doctrines of the church of Rome, or the doctrines themselves. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. caecitas, fr. caecus blind: cf. F. cécité. ] Blindness. [ R. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or quality of being centric; centricalness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brain power. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength.
Syn. -- hue. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Cities [ OE. cite, F. cité, fr. L. civitas citizenship, state, city, fr. civis citizen; akin to Goth. heiwa (in heiwafrauja man of the house), AS. hīwan, pl., members of a family, servants, hīred family, G. heirath marriage, prop., providing a house, E. hind a peasant. ] 1. A large town. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A corporate town; in the United States, a town or collective body of inhabitants, incorporated and governed by a mayor and aldermen or a city council consisting of a board of aldermen and a common council; in Great Britain, a town corporate, which is or has been the seat of a bishop, or the capital of his see. [ 1913 Webster ]

A city is a town incorporated; which is, or has been, the see of a bishop; and though the bishopric has been dissolved, as at Westminster, it yet remaineth a city. Blackstone [ 1913 Webster ]

When Gorges constituted York a city, he of course meant it to be the seat of a bishop, for the word city has no other meaning in English law. Palfrey [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The collective body of citizens, or inhabitants of a city. “What is the city but the people?” Shak.

Syn. -- See Village. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a city. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

City council. See under Council. --
City court, The municipal court of a city. [ U. S. ] --
City ward, a watchman, or the collective watchmen, of a city. [ Obs. ] Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being a clergyman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Complicities [ F. complicité. ] The state of being an accomplice; participation in guilt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being concentric. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or condition of being cylindrical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) The property or condition of being dibasic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. dicacitas: cf. F. dicacité. See Dicacious. ] Pertness; sauciness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Aptitude for teaching. Hare. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Dispute, v. i. ] Proneness to dispute. [ Obs. ] Bp. Ward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Teachableness. [ Prov. Eng. & Local, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. domesticitas: cf. F. domesticité. ] The state of being domestic; domestic character; household life. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. duplicities [ F. duplicité, L. duplicitas, fr. duplex double. See Duplex. ] 1. Doubleness; a twofold state. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Do not affect duplicities nor triplicities, nor any certain number of parts in your division of things. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Doubleness of heart or speech; insincerity; a sustained form of deception which consists in entertaining or pretending to entertain one set of feelings, and acting as if influenced by another; bad faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Far from the duplicity wickedly charged on him, he acted his part with alacrity and resolution. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) (a) The use of two or more distinct allegations or answers, where one is sufficient. Blackstone. (b) In indictments, the union of two incompatible offenses. Wharton.

Syn. -- Double dealing; dissimulation; deceit; guile; deception; falsehood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Eccentricities [ Cf. F. excentricité. ] 1. The state of being eccentric; deviation from the customary line of conduct; oddity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) The ratio of the distance between the center and the focus of an ellipse or hyperbola to its semi-transverse axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Astron.) The ratio of the distance of the center of the orbit of a heavenly body from the center of the body round which it revolves to the semi-transverse axis of the orbit. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mech.) The distance of the center of figure of a body, as of an eccentric, from an axis about which it turns; the throw. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. edacitas. ] Greediness; voracity; ravenousness; rapacity. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. efficacitas: cf. F. efficacité. ] Efficacy. [ R. ] J. Fryth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. élasticité. ] 1. The quality of being elastic; the inherent property in bodies by which they recover their former figure or dimensions, after the removal of external pressure or altering force; springiness; resilience; tendency to rebound; as, the elasticity of caoutchouc; the elasticity of the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Power of resistance to, or recovery from, depression or overwork; -- usually referred to as resilience[ 3 ]. [ 1913 Webster ]

Coefficient of elasticity, the quotient of a stress (of a given kind), by the strain (of a given kind) which it produces; -- called also coefficient of resistance. --
Surface of elasticity (Geom.), the pedal surface of an ellipsoid (see Pedal); a surface used in explaining the phenomena of double refraction and their relation to the elastic force of the luminous ether in crystalline media. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Electricities [ Cf. F. électricité. See Electric. ] 1. (Physics) a property of certain of the fundamental particles of which matter is composed, called also electric charge, and being of two types, designated positive and negative; the property of electric charge on a particle or physical body creates a force field which affects other particles or bodies possessing electric charge; positive charges create a repulsive force between them, and negative charges also create a repulsive force. A positively charged body and a negatively charged body will create an attractive force between them. The unit of electrical charge is the coulomb, and the intensity of the force field at any point is measured in volts. [ PJC ]

2. any of several phenomena associated with the accumulation or movement of electrically charged particles within material bodies, classified as static electricity and electric current. Static electricity is often observed in everyday life, when it causes certain materials to cling together; when sufficient static charge is accumulated, an electric current may pass through the air between two charged bodies, and is observed as a visible spark; when the spark passes from a human body to another object it may be felt as a mild to strong painful sensation. Electricity in the form of electric current is put to many practical uses in electrical and electronic devices. Lightning is also known to be a form of electric current passing between clouds and the ground, or between two clouds. Electric currents may produce heat, light, concussion, and often chemical changes when passed between objects or through any imperfectly conducting substance or space. Accumulation of electrical charge or generation of a voltage differnce between two parts of a complex object may be caused by any of a variety of disturbances of molecular equilibrium, whether from a chemical, physical, or mechanical, cause. Electric current in metals and most other solid coductors is carried by the movement of electrons from one part of the metal to another. In ionic solutions and in semiconductors, other types of movement of charged particles may be responsible for the observed electrical current. [ PJC ]

☞ Electricity is manifested under following different forms: (a)
Statical electricity, called also
Frictional electricity or
Common electricity, electricity in the condition of a stationary charge, in which the disturbance is produced by friction, as of glass, amber, etc., or by induction. (b)
Dynamical electricity, called also
Voltaic electricity, electricity in motion, or as a current produced by chemical decomposition, as by means of a voltaic battery, or by mechanical action, as by dynamo-electric machines. (c)
Thermoelectricity, in which the disturbing cause is heat (attended possibly with some chemical action). It is developed by uniting two pieces of unlike metals in a bar, and then heating the bar unequally. (d)
Atmospheric electricity, any condition of electrical disturbance in the atmosphere or clouds, due to some or all of the above mentioned causes. (e)
Magnetic electricity, electricity developed by the action of magnets. (f)
Positive electricity, the electricity that appears at the positive pole or anode of a battery, or that is produced by friction of glass; -- called also vitreous electricity. (g)
Negative electricity, the electricity that appears at the negative pole or cathode, or is produced by the friction of resinous substance; -- called also resinous electricity. (h)
Organic electricity, that which is developed in organic structures, either animal or vegetable, the phrase animal electricity being much more common. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The science which studies the phenomena and laws of electricity; electrical science. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Fig.: excitement, anticipation, or emotional tension, usually caused by the occurrence or expectation of something unusual or important.

n. [ Cf. F. ellipticité. ] Deviation of an ellipse or a spheroid from the form of a circle or a sphere; especially, in reference to the figure of the earth, the difference between the equatorial and polar semidiameters, divided by the equatorial; thus, the ellipticity of the earth is 1/29966. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Some writers use ellipticity as the ratio of the difference of the two semiaxes to the minor axis, instead of the major. Nichol. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Physics) The minimum velocity at which an object must be moving in order for it to overcome the gravitational attraction of a massive celestial body, such as the earth or the sun, and escape beyond its gravitational field into free space. The velocity is calculated as though attained instantaneously at the surface of the celestial body, and is pointed directly away from its center, and neglecting effects of atmospheric friction. Rockets, which accelerate gradually and are moving rapidly at a high altitude when their fuel is exhausted or their engines shut off, may escape even if moving slightly slower at that point than the surface escape velocity. Compare orbital velocity. [ PJC ]

☞ The escape velocity at the surface of the earth is 11.2 km/sec (25, 100 miles per hour), at the moon's surface is 2.4 km/sec, and at the sun's surface is 617.7 km/sec. The escape velocity is calculated as:

Ve = 2Rg

where R is the radius of the celestial body and g is the acceleration due to the gravitational field at its surface. The peculiar chracteristic of a black hole is that the escape velocity at its “surface” (called its “event horizon”) is greater than the speed of light. Therefore nothing, not even light, may escape from it. Dict. Sci. Tech. [ PJC ]

n. Evangelicism. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Math.) Same as Eccentricity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Felicities [ OE. felicite, F. félicité, fr. L. felicitas, fr. felix, -icis, happy, fruitful; akin to fetus. ] 1. The state of being happy; blessedness; blissfulness; enjoyment of good. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our own felicity we make or find. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity. Book of Common Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which promotes happiness; a successful or gratifying event; prosperity; blessing. [ 1913 Webster ]

the felicities of her wonderful reign. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A pleasing faculty or accomplishment; as, felicity in painting portraits, or in writing or talking. “Felicity of expression.” Bp. Warburton.

Syn. -- Happiness; bliss; beatitude; blessedness; blissfulness. See Happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]